Photo by the cobrasnake

I remember u, CD Binder bro
You used to be hella useful, back when I was overloaded with CDs
disc, jewel case, album insert
needed a system to help me get organized
to keep me from scratching my massive CD collection

We had a lot of good memories.
I remember the first time I organized you
I got rid of my jewel cases
and just kept the album booklet and the CD inside of you
Really trusted u with that shit

Eventually I transported you into my car (a 1992 toyota Camry)
and u gave me access to a rich library of relevant CDs

for a while I had a CD visor
but that really didn't meet my needs
since I had such a massive music collection

CD visor was 'functional' for my on-the-go playlist style listening
but it didn't give my CDs the protection I needed
Didn't allow me to have access to all 100-5000 CDs in my collection

When I moved CD Binder bro into my car
I took him everywhere
We drove to high school together every morning
Took him on a road trip to visit colleges
Sometimes I would even loan him out to my best bros
(h8ed when they stole CDs from me)

CD binder was around, back when 'the album' meant something to me
better than an iTunes playlist because I had an emotional and financial connection with each album
at least until I started burning tons of albums
after buying a 100 pack of blank CD-Rs

Eventually you became irrelevant, CD binder bro
MP3s replaced the CD
and we no longer a sweet organizational tool
in the form of a binder / trapper keeper
because the CDs couldn't be sorted by artist name, song name, album name
genre, rating, play count or other meta data

So weird to realize that music is just 'information'
being transported
and it is better to just send it thru fiber wires/3g networks
as opposed to storing the data on a disc
and packaging it

I really miss u CD binder
U were the chillest of bros
A useful product
and maybe I took u for granted
thought u would last forever

You were always way more chill than the CD tower
The CD tower was utilized by 'show offs'
people who wanted to show off how many CDs they owned
getting dusty in their living rooms

Eventually, the CD tower became the ultimate symbol of waste
huge stack of CDs 'showing off' the hundreds of dollars u wasted on CDs
from bands that were just 'one hit wonders'
or crappy bands like Limp Bizkit / Korn / Matchbox 20 etc
a shrine to your old personal brands
that people could make fun of u for
and all u could say was 'yea, i used to think that band was okay a long time ago'

They say the only thing worse than a CD tower
is a DVD tower
no matter how many 'special editions' u have
u might never be a special edition of a human

The CD Binder is a private, intimate experience
flipping thru pages
U were the original 'cover flow' [the popular feature showcased by Apple products which allows u to skim album art]

I loved the feeling of flipping a page against my fingers
the smell of plastic
every color of the rainbow
a tactile experience that can never be replicated by cover flow

Really miss CD binder bro
might start buying CDs again just to 'get retro'
and reconnect with the CD Binder
(but I already invested a lot of money in a record player + vinyl collection)

I don't want a 'little bitch' CD binder
holding 10-20 CDs
re-gifted to you because the mini CD binder became a product
that it was easy to 'slap your logo on'

I want a huge CD binder
A portable filing cabinet of my life
because music is my life
CDs used to be my life
Before I got into vinyl/mp3s

Miss u CD binder bro
so many people talk about technology and the digital revolution
but we don't take the time to think of auxiliary products
Failing to ask important questions like
"What will happen to all of the iPod docks in the world when iPods are irrelevant?"
"What will happen to memes when the internet dies?"

Maybe I like buzz mp3s
and I am genuinely thankful for the ease at which I can find and steal new music
and listen to my iPod every day
jam out hard to my iPhones
docking my shit into 'alarm clock speakers'

But I miss the simple days
I miss the wasteful CD buying experience
dealing with amassing several hundred jewel cases
scratching and misplacing CDs
and finding innovative ways to tkae CDs out of their original packaging
and sort them in a way that fit in with my lifestyle

Sometimes I feel like life is sorta like flipping thru the pages of your CD binder
trying to find the right album to put on at the right time

Maybe you never were bros with a CD binder
but trust me...
He was one helluva bro
and I would be the person I am today without him.

miss u